over at the door, hanging up my coat on the rack beside it. I toed off my shoes and hoped I didn’t track in too much water from the snow on the ground outside. I’d wiped my feet, but it never all came off, and it never failed, I always found the cold water with my socks.
“Umm, maybe? I’m not sure.”
“Or maybe you have plans for company?” Ford asked as he held up the box of condoms. Of course he would find that particular bag first.
“Yeah, I do. I hope so anyway.”
“Is that what you’re needing advice about?” Ford asked. He went rummaging through the bags, and when he started pulling out the cold things and setting them on the stove beside the fridge, I knew how he’d found the condoms so quickly.
“Do you think I’m crazy? I mean, he works for me.”
“Yeah, so? You’re both adults. My only concern would be that he goes back home to Breckenridge. You know he’s a Clifton, right?”
“I do. I didn’t quite put two and two together at first though. But yeah, I know he’s Michael Clifton’s son. His younger son. Do you think that will be a problem?” I didn’t know much about the Clifton family, only that they had money. Lots of it. But Sawyer seemed to be quite down-to-earth, and he didn’t appear to be driven by money which was good in my book.
“I’m not sure. I know that from what I’ve been able to find out that they’ve not seemed to have any issues with their younger son being gay. But I also know that their family all work for their lodge,” Ford said as he put the cold things in the fridge and freezer for me.
“Yeah, Sawyer did until a few weeks ago, and he quit.” Because he’d worked himself to almost having an ulcer. At twenty-eight. Was that possible? Apparently.
“So what’s up with you two? You’re seeing him now?” Ford asked.
I pulled out another couple of boxes of pasta and placed them on the counter while I thought about my answer. “I’d like to think so. I can get sex anywhere. Not that I don’t want to have sex with him because I really do.”
“And I did not need to know that, cuz.”
I laughed. “Okay, Mr. I’m watching porn. Do you really think I wanted to know you were watching porn? Oh, speaking of that…you might want to maybe call first before coming over now. Or well, not use your key to let yourself in.”
Ford looked around the house and stopped at the couch, crinkling his nose.
“Knock it off. I’ve not done anything on that couch in a while. But I have a date tonight, and let’s just say that Sawyer and I work downstairs. It’s not a far walk to come up here after work. Just saying.”
“Got it. I’ll be sure to not drop in unexpected. So it’s serious, then?”
“I wouldn’t say that. We haven’t even been on our first date yet. But I want to see where things can go.” I picked up the foodstuffs I’d unpacked, and after I loaded my arms up, I carried it over to the pantry and started putting things away.
“Well, if this is what you want, you know I’ll support you in any way I can,” Ford said as he stood beside me. His arms were just full of boxed goods, and when we had them on the shelves in their places, we went back for one more trip.
“I’m thirty-four, going to be thirty-five. It’s not that my biological clock is ticking or anything because I can’t see me as having kids or anything like that. But I’m tired of being alone.”
“Trust me, I get that. I really do.”
“What about you? You seeing anyone?”
“If I was, would I be watching porn on a regular basis?” Ford laughed when I shuddered. Again, not something I needed to know.
Ford left shortly after that, and I spent the day like I usually did Sundays. I cleaned my place. I paid extra attention to the bedroom and bathroom, just in case. After I was finished cleaning, I took a shower and got changed. We were going to be doing the grout this evening before I took Sawyer out for our date, so I wasn’t sure why I was showering because I was probably going to get dirty again, but so what. At least I wouldn’t smell.
My stomach was in knots by the time I heard Sawyer knocking on the back door. I had